Earlier this week, when a woman in his South Dorset constituency contactedRichard Drax, expressing her concerns over the objectification of women inThe Sun, he replied:

Thank you for your email of today regarding Page 3 girls in the Sun. While I understand that some people are offended at seeing naked breasts, this particular page is something of a national institution, providing the girls with a job and Sun readers with some light and harmless entertainment.

First, people are not “offended at seeing naked breasts”. I certainly am not. What is offensive is the objectification of “Rhian, 26, from Manchester” on page 3 of today’s Sun. That's one hell of a job. Is it part of theTories' plan to target under-21s with the creation of new jobs? Get our lazy youth off the streets and into a photographic studio! Tops off! Make them contributors to society!

But secondly, and most importantly, in what pathetic world is Page 3 a “national institution”?

I rang Mr Drax's office and was told by his female assistant that he "does not comment on correspondence with his constituents", nor would he supply me with a remark for this piece.

Encountering the objectification of young women is upsetting, and confusing. It is not news, and it is not worthy of a national newspaper. Would you like to see your daughter/wife/sister/mother objectified in such a way? If not, why not? And if it’s not good enough for the women you care about, why is it good enough for Rhian, 26, or anyone else's daughter/wife/sister/mother?

In his letter to his constituent, excerpted here, Mr Drax goes one to say:

It certainly pales into insignificance compared to what you can see with ease on the internet and in the more graphic pornographic publications. And, in most parts of the UK on a summer's day, finding ladies with their tops off is not a difficult task.

Hmm. There’s certainly lots of flesh on display from both sexes on sunny British summer days – all two of them, annually – but this is entirely different. This is the objectification of women. In a newspaper. For general consumption. It's not porn that you've gone and sought out. It's there next to your news.

Mr Drax concludes:

I certainly do not mean to underestimate your concern, but I think on balance Page 3 girls do no harm and the practice will no doubt die out on its own anyway.

The objectification of young women in national newspapers may or may not “die out on its own”. But that’s not the point. The existence of Page 3 does harm. It reinforces in a public, family forum that women are objects to be used and exploited.

Whether or not he wishes to support the nationalNo More Page 3campaign - and there are reasonable arguments of supporting a free press that he could have fallen back on in declining - the exploitation of young women cannot be hailed as a national institution.

It's not the breasts, Mr Drax, that are offensive. It's the celebration of the exploitation of women.